MIDLAND, Texas (AP) - A
long-haul trucker from West Texas has pleaded guilty in a 2011
multistate drug-transporting ring with ties to Mexico.
Federal prosecutors in Midland
say 37-year-old Rigoberto Marquez of Odessa pleaded guilty Tuesday
afternoon to conspiracy to distribute cocaine. No sentencing date was
immediately set for Marquez, who faces up to 10 years in prison
Marquez in mid-2011 tried to
recruit another Texas driver to transport cocaine from Arizona to Ohio,
then return money from the sales to Arizona.
Prosecutors say the other trucker became an FBI informant.
Prosecutors say on Nov. 18,
2011, Kentucky State Police near Elizabethtown confiscated about
$307,000 in drug money hidden in the truck Marquez was driving from
Columbus, Ohio.
The cash has been forfeited.
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